The present disclosure relates to slot machines, including electromechanical slot machines employing variations of poker games, and which will be referred to hereinafter by the general term “gaming machines” or “slot machines.”
Slot machines, including gaming machines based on variations of different types of poker games, have become popular in the United States and in many other countries throughout the world.
Traditional electromechanical slot machines have made use of spinning reels, usually controlled by stepper motors, to provide a display function. Symbols carried on the reels are typically aligned to produce a game result which may, or may not be, a winning combination. Such machines have typically paid a prize only on a center row combination, however, over the years more complex pay arrangements have been developed in which winning combinations could appear on horizontal lines above and below the center row line.
Players who regularly play gaming machines can quickly lose interest in the particular games used. Manufacturers of such gaming machines therefore seek to develop innovative game features that add interest to the games provided on such machines, or to provide new games in order to keep players amused and willing to continue playing gaming machines.
Recently the gaming machine market has experienced considerable growth and there is intense competition between manufacturers of gaming machines to supply the various existing and new gaming venues that are newly established. The revenue raised by an operator of a particular gaming venue depends to a large degree on the amount of money wagered on such gaming machines. In turn, the amount of money wagered on a particular gaming machine is related to the popularity of the machine. Thus, when selecting a supply of gaming machines, the popularity of the various machines is a main consideration.
Previously, with a gaming machine having spinning reels controlled by stepper motors, there have been physical limits to the amount game features that were added to the gaming machine. This limitation of game features correspondingly reduced the long-term interest in the particular game.
The available size of the game jackpot has been recognized as a further limitation on such gaming machines. The jackpot available on a particular gaming machine depends to a degree on the probability of a particular winning line occurring. The probability of a winning betting line occurring, in turn, depends on the number of symbols on the reels. By way of example, for a gaming machine having the traditional three reels, if each reel carried only ten symbols, and a particular winning symbol appeared once only on each reel, the probability of the reels aligning the three particular winning symbols on the pay line would be one in a thousand.
Thus on a machine which merely broke even, and only paid a jackpot for the combination of those three winning symbols, a jackpot of 1000 credits could be offered for a one credit wager. Of course, usually, other combinations of symbols also pay prizes and on average gaining machines retain a proportion of monies wagered. Hence, on such a machine the jackpot prize payable would be much smaller than 1000 credits.
One solution to this problem is to increase either the number of reels, or the size of the reels and the number of symbols on a particular reel. However, there is obviously a physical limit to the size and number of reels which can be provided, governed by the size of the standard gaming machine cabinet, the costs involved in making oversize machines, and the reluctance of gaming machine operators to have oversized gaming machines in their venues.
Consequently there is a tendency for the use of video displays simulating spinning reels since this allows, among other things, the use of virtual reels which can be of almost infinite size, and also enables the provision of animation and other innovative game features provided by suitable control of the video display means, to increase player interest.
Many players of gaming machines prefer, however, the traditional spinning style gaming machines where they can see a physical reel spinning and believe that such machines are inherently more trustworthy and honest. Players have shown a distrust of video simulations of gaming machines and believe that they might have a poor chance of winning on such machines. They may further believe that there is more scope for winning on the traditional style machines by the exercise of their skill and experience in playing such gaming machines.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view representing a prior art spinning reel type poker machine, as shown as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,642, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The slot machine 10 shown includes a plurality (in this case three) of rotatable reels 12 carrying symbols 14 is arranged to pay a variable prize on the occurrence of a predetermined symbol or combination of symbols on a win line.
In the slot machine 10 illustrated in FIG. 1, the game is initiated by a pull handle 16, or an operating mechanism such as a push button actuator or other initiation device in other embodiments of the disclosure. The top box 18 on top of the slot machine 10 can include a display 20 which illustrates the various winning combinations for which a price is paid.
The payment or not of a jackpot prize is determined by the occurrence of winning numbers, e.g., three 7's, on the win or betting line as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the winning numbers are against a clear background. For the machine of FIG. 1, when the winning numbers appear on the display, the display color may change. If, for example, the three 7's all change to a red color, the jackpot prize would be paid, otherwise a lesser prize associated with three 7's of that particular color or color mix would be paid. The coloring of the 7's occurs by backlighting the 7s in the reels by means of colored light bulbs or similar means. This display is shown at 22 on FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the presence of the above feature on a gaming machine allows that gaming machine to pay a jackpot which is several times greater than would normally be paid. For example if each 7 has an equal chance of becoming white, blue or red, then the chance of all three reels turning red is 1 in 27 and therefore a jackpot prize of approximately 27 times greater than an identical gaining machine without the feature of the present disclosure can be paid. Thus the present disclosure increases the attractiveness of a gaming machine to a player.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view representing a prior art gaming machine having a video display simulating one or more spinning reels. Slot machine 50 is a video version of the, machine of FIG. 1 and includes a video screen 52 on which five spinning reels 54 are simulated, each of the spinning reels having a plurality of symbols 56 similar to the physical symbols in the embodiment of FIG. 1.
The machine shown in FIG. 2 may also be configured to run a keno, bingo or card game, in which on the occurrence of particular combinations of symbols, a color change to the symbols (or their background) occurs and depending on the change an additional prize may be paid.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a prior art game control means of FIG. 2. The program to implement the game runs on a standard gaming machine control processor 31 as illustrated schematically in FIG. 3. This processor forms part of a controller 30 which drives the display screen 11 and receives touch input signals from touch sensors 32 as well as receiving coin input pulses from a coin chute mechanism 33 and driving a coin payout mechanism 34.
While the slot machines and apparatus shown and described for FIG. 1-3 are suitable for their intended purpose(s), certain disadvantages have been present in other types of prior art slot machines. For example limitations have been identified for prior art gaming machines including an inability to captivate gamblers, poor lighting, lack of interchangeability or reconfiguration among components, and/or issues with electromechanical reel movement including sensitivity or vulnerability to inadvertent or intentional movement of the machine and/or reels.
For example, with slot machines reels, wheels, or other motors, it is critical to both detect illegal motion (being moved when they shouldn't be) and to accurately determine where the motor/reel/wheel is while during operation. Certain techniques have been used previously to try to accurately locate the wheels/reels in operation.
Slot machines are required, e.g., by gaming authorities or casino owners, to constantly monitor their reels and wheels for tampering, and to report such tampering to the monitoring system. The software that drives and monitors the reels is designed in such a way as to always detect “illegal motion”.
FIG. 4 is a side view of prior art slot machine reel 40 with motion detection system according to the prior art. The system includes a circular frame 42 and an optical sensor 44. A position marker (home indication) 46 is affixed to the reel 40. The sensor operates to detect the movement of the position marker 46 as the marker 46 passes in proximity to the sensor as the reel 40 moves. FIG. 5 is a close-up of the prior art sensor of FIG. 4, showing further detail of the optical sensor 44, frame 42, and position marker 46. FIG. 6 is a close of the prior art sensor of FIG. 4 from a different perspective.
Prior art techniques (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 4-6) have sometimes included a shaft mounted single or dual encoder system to determine position of a rotatable slot machine reel. Additional techniques have included two encoders mounted on a particular wheel drum, with one encoder for location/motion detection and the other for home position detection. Such systems have, however, been shown to have limitations including an inability/poor capability to detection the direction of motion of the associated reel(s).
Further limitations of prior art electromechanical slot machines have been recognized for electromechanical machines that have used back-lit mechanical reels. Such slot machines typically flash each symbol in sequence and then show or flash all symbols in the pay. Such prior art systems may have included identifying winning lines but not winning information associated with a winning line. Additionally, the symbols/designs on mechanical reels can be difficult to view under various lighting conditions and problems with viewing can still exist observing the lines or reels purchased information. Also problems occur in prior art slot machines because typical front lighting only illuminates the reels of a stepper-motor based slot machine, and because back lighting is typically turned on after an individual reel/wheel stops moving.
Visual problems with spinning wheels/reels used in prior art slot machines have included low brightness and/or attractiveness. In an attempt to remedy such problems, slot machine manufacturers have employed certain back-lit mechanical reels but none illuminate them during the spin. Players of slot machines spend most of their time staring at the reel glass area, to see both the spinning reels (to see where they stop) and the slot display (to see the meters and messages). The reels themselves are typically illuminated from the top (and/or bottom) by the same light that illuminates the reel glass itself, typically a fluorescent lamp (or lamps) behind the glass. This arrangement can produce excessive glare for players of the slot machine. Further disadvantages of prior art slot machines have been identified relating to retaining user interest relative to lighting a portion of the a slot machine with a single color (spectrum distribution) of light.
In addition to the lighting and reel motion limitations of prior art slot machines as noted above, prior art slot machines have had limitations regarding interchangeability and/or reconfigurability of system components, which among other things has been limiting for the cost-effectiveness of and long-term user interest in such games. For example, prior art slot machines have typically employed different reel glass to display different lines. Typically prior art mechanical three-reel slot machines typically have used one payline on the center of the reel glass, with some games including three lines or five lines. These lines are all displayed as a line on the reel glass. Newer games can have an increased amount of lines, e.g., 9, 12, 12, 20, or more lines. The only current method is to change the art on the reel glass for each type. As a further example of such limitations, in prior art mechanical slot machines, a new cabinet design is used for each type of slot machine, e.g., a 3-reel, 4-reel, 5-reel machine.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to alleviate the disadvantages of the prior art slot machines and related systems and methods, including as described above, and to provide improved game methods, systems, and apparatus for slot gaming machines.